Former Nevada Assemblyman Steven Brooks, who was arrested last week after a high-speed chase in the High Desert, pleaded not guilty to three felony counts and one misdemeanor this afternoon during court proceedings in Barstow.

The charges include one count of evading an officer, resisting arrest and throwing objects at a police vehicle -- all felonies, according to the criminal complaint filed today in Superior Court. Brooks is also charged with one misdemeanor count of assault on a police animal.

Brooks returns to court April 9. If he is convicted as charged, Brooks could face five years and four months in state prison, according to District Attorney spokesman Chris Lee.

Brooks became the first person in Nevada history to be voted out of office by his colleagues in the Legislature last week after they cited concerns for their safety and a bizarre series of public incidents.

Brooks was arrested Thursday near Victorville after police say he attacked a police dog with a wrench and had a struggle with officers. The chase followed a call from a tow truck driver who argued with a motorist about the cost of fixing a flat tire on the freeway shoulder in Barstow, police said.

It's the third time Brooks has been arrested this year, and it came just hours after his colleagues deemed the Democrat from North Las Vegas to be too dangerous to serve out his term.

Brooks was first arrested Jan. 19 after he allegedly threatened other legislators, including Assembly Democratic Speaker Marilyn Kirkpatrick, and a police search turned up a gun and ammunition in his car.

He was arrested again less than a week after being sworn into office, on Feb. 10, following a domestic dispute at his estranged wife's home where he allegedly tried to grab an officer's gun. Brooks faces a court hearing in May in Las Vegas on one felony and three lesser charges in that incident.